Tunnel kiln car



Nov.v 1923. 1,473,152

H. D. LlLLlBRlDGE TUNNEL KILN CAR Filed March 2l. 1921 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Nov. 6, 1923.

| I. D. LILLIBRIDGE 'TUNNEL KILN GAR Filed March 2l. 1921' 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 I /M/f/vrae Patented Nov. 6, 1923.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

HARRY D. LILLIBRIDGE, OF ZANESVILLE, OHIO, ASSIGNOR TO AMERICAN ENCAUSTIC TILING CO., LTD., OF NEW YORK, N. Y., A CORPORATION OF NEW YORK.

TUNNEL KILN CAR.

Application filed March 21, 1921. Serial No. 454,037.

To all w hom t may concern Be it known that I, HARRY D. LILLIBRLDGE, a citizen of the United States, residing at Zanesville, in the county of Muskingum and State of Ohio, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Tunnel Kiln Cars, of which the following is a specifica* tion.

This invention is a kiln car, the same being adapted for use, more particularly, as a vehicle for transporting ceramic material to and from a chamber within which said material is subjected to high temperature for firing or burning the same.

As heretofore constructed, cars for the specified service have embodied a wheeled platform upon which is erected a load-carryingstructure composed of fire brick bonded by appropriate material. Owing to the high kiln temperature and the weight of the load imposed upon the cars, the fire brick structure deteriorates with comparative rapidity, experience having shown that the bonding material disintegrates under the service temperature so that the superposed bricks fall apart, as a result of which the cars must be repaired and the load-carrying structure renewed with undesirz'tble frequency.

The object of this invention is to increase the durability of the car or vehicle and to minimize repairs and renewals, thus attaining economy and efficiency in the service of the cars.

. According to my invention, the load-carrying structure on the wheeled platform is composed of fire brick or equivalent elements interlocked one to the other for precluding relative displacement upon the deterioration of the bonding material.

Other functions and advantages of the invention will appear from the following description taken in connection with the drawings, wherein- Figure l is a plan view of a kiln car constructed in accordance with the invention.

Figure 2 is a side elevation partly broken away and in section, illustrating the interlocking bricks or slabs,

Figure 8 is an end elevation.

Figure 4 is a vertical transverse section in the plane of the dotted line 4 4 of Figure 2, and

Figure 5 is a fragmentary detail vlew ofthe meeting end portions of two abutting cars illustrating the lap joint attained by a certain construction of the brick structures at the respective ends of the cars.

The platform A is provided as usual with wheel hangers a for the wheels a adapted to the rails f2 (see dotted lines in Figure 2) whereby the car is movable within a tunnel kiln, or analogous structure.

A load-carrying structure is erected upon the wheeled platform for supporting thereon the load of ceramic material to be tired or burned within the kiln chamber. Said loadcarrying structure is composed essentially of interlocked bricks or slabs B superposed and bonded together and supporting top slabs C upon which rest the saggers containing the ceramic material.

As shown in the drawings, each brick B is provided on the top face thereof with a pocket Z) and on the bottom face with a tenon or projection a, the .pocket and the projection occupying corresponding positions on said top and bottom faces in order that the brick may be interlocked with other bricks when a number of said bricks are assembled in superposed order.

The structure is chambered as shown in Figures 2 and 4f, for which purpose the bricks are laid to produce continuous walls at the respective sides and at the opposite ends, there being cross walls at intervals between the side walls, see Figure 2, as a result of which a Aplurality of chambers AD are produced within said structure. As shown, the courses of bricks are laid to break joints, and the bricks in each course are bonded together and to the bricks of adjacent courses,

the bonding material al extending between the faces of the bricks and within the pockets c so as to .encase the tenons ZJ, see Figures 2 and 4, whereby the several bricks are united into a sol-id unitary structure.

The bricks comprising the side walls and the end walls are so proportioned and assembled as to produce the overhangsE E at the respective sides of the brick structure on the vehiclel or car. Said overhangs of the brick structure co-operate with appropriate recesses Vand ledges in the walls of the kiln (not s hown), the relation being such as to result in the production between the opposing surfaces of the car and the kiln walls of battles by which the flow of heat downwardly is arrested in the narrow spaces intervening the car and said kiln walls.

The bricks in the lower course are laid upon the platform for the tenons Z) of said bricks to enter sockets provided in the platform, see Figure 2, but the bricks in the top course of the structure are provided with flat upper surfaces on which are im posed the top slabs C, the latter being rabbeted to lit the top courses of bricks in the side, end, and cross walls of said structure, the said slabs being bonded to the top courses'of bricks.

y As usual, the chambers within the loadcarrying structure and intermediate the cross walls thereof are'lilled to a suitable height with sand, or other heat non-conductor D, see Figure 2, and upon the filling material is imposed slabs D', the latter acting to preclude direct contact of the heat with the non-conducting material and to impose pressure upon said material for compacting the same more or less within the chambers.

Atithe respective ends of the car, the bricks B B2 in the lower course are provided with tongues f f respectively. At one end of the car, the bricks B in the lower course of bricks are provided with tongues f, each tongue being positioned on the upper half of one brick B, which bricks B of thev lower course extend across one end of the car. At the opposite end of the car, and on the bricks B2 in the lower course eX- tending across said end, each brick B2 is provided on the lower half thereof with a tongue f', all as shown in Figure 5, said tongues f, f on the bricks B', 2 in the lower courses andvat the abutting ends of two adjacent cars beino' relatively positioned so as to horizontally la one over the other as shown in F iofure 5. hen the cars are positioned within the kiln, either at rest or moving therein, said cars abut at their ends, and under such conditions of service, the bricks B at the end of one car are sorelated to the bricks B2 at the adjacent end of the next car that the tongues on B overlap the tongues f on B2, the effect of which is to close the narrow interval or space intermediate the adjacent cars against the downward flow of the heat between said cars.

The carsare moved on the tracks outside of the kiln and to positions convenient for the operators so as to pile or stack the saggers, loaded with ceramic material, upon the top slabs of they brick structure. The loaded car is now moved into the kiln, and it usually co-operates with a series of other similar cars, the introduction of a fresh car operating to advance the other cars within the kiln and to eject from said kiln the car at the end opposite to that end into which the fresh car is introduced.

Upon introducing the car within the kiln chamber, the overhanging portions E E at the respective sides of the car overlap corresponding ledges provided on the respective side walls of the kiln chamber, and the bricks B at one end of the introduced car overlap the bricks B2 at the abutting end of the car previously introduced, as a result of which the spaces intermediate the kiln side walls, and the car are closed bythe overhangs E E', and the spaces between the ends of the abutting cars are closed by the overlapping bricks B B2, whereby the down flow of heat through said spaces is minimized.

It will be noted that the tenon'c is positioned centrally with reference to the width of the under face of the brick, whereby the tenons enter the sockets upon the assemblage of the bricks for the faces of said bricks v to have the required bearing one upon the other and to provide for the adhesion of the bonding material. Obviously, the number of tenons and pockets may be increased as demanded by the dimensions of the brick or slab, and such other modifications may be made as will suggest themselves to a skilled mechanic without departing from the spirit of my invention, one of the essential features of which is the provision of means unitary with the bricks to effect an interlocking engagement of the assembled bricks.

In the service of the cars as ordinarily constructed it is found that the heat within the kiln chamber tends to disintegrate the bonding material by* which the bricks are united, and the weight of the load imposed upon the brick structure tends to dislodge the bricks and cause them to bulge outwardly from the faces of the walls when such disintegration occurs in the vbonding material; but in my invention this tendency of the bricks to bulge outwardly andto become displaced is wholly overcome by the interlocking engagement between the superposed bricks, such interlock of one brick with another precluding the relative displacement of the bricks one to the other whereby the bricks are held securely in their alined relation so that the bricks are not displaced nor do they bulge with respect to the plane of the wall. The car is thus con` structed for the brick load-carrying structure to resist the actionA of the heat and to withstand the pressure of the load, as a result of which the necessity7 for repairs and re-V placements at frequent intervals is obviated,

and the durability and serviceability of the cars is promoted with an attendant economy of maintenance charges.

Although I have illust-rated and described the car as adapted for use in kilns for firing ceramic materials, it will be understood tion, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

l. In a vehicle of the class described, a load-carrying structure embodying bricks or slabs provided on their meeting faces with mortices and tenons, said bricks or slabs being interlocked and bonded to preclude dislodgment of the bricks under the stresses of the load and upon disintegration, more or less, of the bonding medium.

2. In a vehicle of the class described, a load-carrying structure composed of bricks or slabs provided on their meeting faces with mortices and tenons, .the courses of said bricks or slabs being interlocked one to the other and bonded together for resisting i relative displacement under the disintegration of the bonding medium.`

3. In a vehicle of the class described, a

load-carrying structure composed of bricks or slabs, bonded together and provided on their meeting faces with mortices and tenons by which said slabs or bricks are interlocked, the side walls of the structure being provided with a succession of protruding ledges adapted to minimize the downtlow of heat past said protruding side walls.

Ll. A vehicle of the class described embodying a wheeled platform and a load-car rying structure erectedthereon, said structure being composed of bricks or slabs each provided with a tenon and a socket whereby the superposed bricks or slabs are interlocked when bonded together for precluding relative displacement of said bricksor slabs.

5. A vehicle of the class described embodying a wheeled platform, and a loadcarrying structure carried by said platform, said structure comprising bricks or slabs bonded in courses, said bricks or slabs being provided with mortices and tenons for locking the bricks or slabs of one course with the bricks or slabs of an adjacent course, the bricks in the lower course and at the respective ends of the car being provided with members extending beyond the vertical faces of said load-carrying structure.

6. A vehicle of the class described embodying a wheeled platform, and a loadcarrying structure carried by said platform,

lsaid structure comprising bricks or slabs assembled in courses and said bricks or slabs being provided with mortices and tenons whereby the bricks or slabs in each course are interlocked with bricks or slabs in adjacent courses, the whole being bonded into HARRY D. LILLIBRIDGE. 

